Letter outing Toowoomba paedophile fake: cops

Elouise Quinlivan
Journalist
I studying Journalism and Education at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, with distinction.
Before finishing uni I published articles and features in magazines such as the Australian Books Arts Journal and No Cure magazine as well as running a mini street-press for Toowoomba called ‘The Postbox’.
Travelling became the backbone of my writing and arts work throughout the past few years, travelling to regional areas across the East Coast to...

TOOWOOMBA police are urging calm after a letter circulating in mailboxes across Toowoomba about a paedophile was shown to be fake.

The letter is allegedly from the Paedophile Location Awareness Group, which authorities say does not exist.

It claims that a 68-year-old man convicted of "paedophilia crimes against young girls" was living in Toowoomba.

A Toowoomba police spokesman said no one had come forward to report the letter to police but that "the person who is nominated in the letter is not in Queensland and is not recorded in our systems at all".

A letter sent to Toowoomba residents which has since be exposed as a fake.

He encouraged residents to phone Police Link on 131 444 if they were concerned about letters such as this and to confirm their accuracy before sharing them.

"One of the problems with Facebook is that things seem to snowball; someone posts something and it gets shared a lot," he said.

"Those offenders are monitored by us very closely, so there's no reason for residents to take it into their own hands."

The post has been shared about 160 times on Facebook through the Toowoomba Crime Alerts and Discussions page.

The police spokesman did not want to speculate on why a fake letter had been produced or distributed in the region.

"When people start sending out flyers and leaflets that's threatening or harassing a person, and if they can be identified further action could be taken."